The Digital Methods Initiative - About Us

The Digital Methods Initiative (DMI) is one of Europe's leading Internet Studies research groups. Comprised of new media researchers and PhD candidates, it designs methods and tools for repurposing online devices and platforms (such as Twitter, Facebook and Google) for research into social and political issues. With founding support from the Mondriaan Foundation, DMI has participated in a variety of funded research projects such as MACOSPOL (Mapping Controversies on Science for Politics) and EMAPS (Electronic Maps to Assist Public Science), the EU FP6 and FP7 projects led by Bruno Latour as well as Contropedia in the EU EINS scheme. Most recently, DMI is participating in ODYCCEUS, the H2020 project concerning opinion dynamics and cultural conflict in European spaces. The Digital Methods Initiative, together with the Govcom.org Foundation, have received grants from the Soros Foundation, Open Society Institute, Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, New Venture Fund and have worked as partners in projects funded by the National Science Foundation (U.S.) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. Its IssueCrawler software has been supported by nearly 100 universities as well as non-governmental organisations. Other well-known software tools include the Lippmannian Device, Netvizz (Facebook analysis) and DMI-TCAT (Twitter analysis).

The Digital Methods Initiative is directed by Richard Rogers, Professor of New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam. The coordinators are Sabine Niederer and Esther Weltevrede. The managing director is Liliana Bounegru. DMI holds annual Summer Schools and Winter Schools, which have been supported by the Center for Creation, Content and Technology (CCCT) at the University of Amsterdam, now the Amsterdam Data Science network.

There is a substantive introduction (or a founding narrative) to the Digital Methods Initiative. Digital Methods research themes include: Links, likes and other natively digital objects Websites as archived objects Engine critique and search as research Cross-spherical analysis as comparative media studies National web studies Wikipedia as cultural reference Social media data, post-demographics and platform studiesDigital methods for issue mapping Digital methods theory

Field Guide to Online Trackers. Entry to the Crypto Design Award challenge, Museum of the Image, Breda, 2015.

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Academic Collaborations

The Digital Methods Initiative is collaborating in one form or another with the following organizations:

Barcelona Media, Barcelona, SpainCentre for the Study of Invention & Social Process, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UKChinese University of Hong KongCitizen Lab, University of Toronto, CanadaDensity Design, Milan, ItalyInfoscape Research Lab, Ryerson, CanadaInstitute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, the NetherlandsIran Media Program, Center for Global Communication Studies, Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, USAKing's College London, UKMedia Lab, Sciences Po, Paris, FranceMedialab, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, the NetherlandsPolitiek Online, The Hague, the NetherlandsUniversity of LilleUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Center for 21st Century Studies, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USAYahoo! Research, Barcelona, Spain.

Digital Methods Courses

There are Digital Methods related courses being given at the following institutions:

University of AmsterdamUniversity of BergenCentral European University, BudapestUniversity of CopenhagenGoldsmiths College, University of LondonKing's College LondonLondon School of EconomicsUniversity of MilanPolitecnico di MilanoPolitecnico di TorinoSciences Po Paris University of Warwick

There are many other 'digital methods' courses given worldwide in such areas as history, political science, communication studies as well as media arts.

The Digital Methods Initiative is also a member of Demoscience, the international controversy mapping consortium.